I am eternally grateful and thankful to my supportive and encouraging thesis adviser/mentor, Dr. Sandra G. Catane. Despite my shortcomings and mistakes as a master's student and research associate, she doesn't make me feel humiliated nor embarrassed every time I fall short of her expectations. I greatly admire her for that.
Just recently, I submitted the first draft of my master's thesis to her and I was getting ready to be showered with litanies because of my incoherent and lackluster technical writing. But lo and behold, she delivered her "litany" to me in a manner that I would not be offended nor belittled. She actually helped me correct my mistakes and encouraged me enough to not lose hope and continue on with my journey in writing the thesis manuscript.
Grabe, nakaka-humble and nakaka-inspire yung ginagawa niya. More than the scientific skills I am learning from her, I also learn values and principles inherent to an encouraging and inspiring mentor. And I believe that if your thesis adviser is someone who embody these traits, then no matter how "inadequate" and "ill-equipped" the student may be, given the right motivation and treatment, the student can hurdle the obstacles prior to graduating.
And eventually the student graduates--- with a stronger yet humble and persevering spirit. That, to me, is what it means to be a great mentor.
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